Getting Blown Up In America
The blue Autobot courier is making his way through the tunnels below Crystal City, headed towards the Industrial Sector. A group of dissident citizenry were to meet him at an abandoned factory in the northeast quadrant. Thus far, intel from these rebels had been quite reliable and had resulted in several successful endeavors against the Decepticons, including the destruction of a powerful sensor array on Mia. By this time, Blurr has become quite familiar with the tunnels and with Crystal City's infastructure, he's been here so many times. This time, he's on his way to deliver information regarding an underground munitions bay the Autobots have stocked up with weapons and other supplies for the Resistance's use. And in turn, the rebellion would provide him with a report on any relevant Decepticon activity their spies may have confirmed or speculated. Speeding through the dimly lit passages, in his hovercar form, he keeps an optic out for potential opposition--the Decepticons have sneaked down here and ambushed him in the past. He transforms as he nears a door that will open into a low-population area of the Industrial Sector, glancing at a holo-display that is connected to a small drone camera hidden on the other side. He has to make sure none of the patrols are passing by at the very moment that he decides to open the door... Tunnels are full of shadows, and there is always a guarantee when it comes to shadows. Where they can be found, so too can be found Ravage. Of course, his intention was not to find Blurr. Far from, in truth. He was sniffing out possible pockets of resistance, or underground trafficking lanes responsible for the movement of materials and personnel in the face of Decepticon control. Thus, when Blurr speeds past, it is a bonus that draws a faint sense of smug satisfaction. Keeping low and out of sight, Ravage picks his way through the tunnels, carefully keeping the path tracked within his own memory-banks, overlaying them against a comprehensive, but incomplete, map of the underground tunnels he's managed to build thus far. Due to his own positioning, it is unlikely that holo-display would show him...wrong side of the door, after all. Instead, he keeps a very safe distance away, watching... Hmm. Crawl in the sewers, find a rat... best thing a cat could hope for. Americon collapses and shrinks down into a very tiny cassette labeled, "America's Most Patriotic Hits!" Patriotic Cassette may be somewhere in the area, attached to someone else with the person in question being completely unaware of the horror magnetically bonded to his body. But if only they know, they would panic, scratch at themselves, cry out in fear, or maybe even sing the US National Anthem. Blurr watches the surveillance feed for a few astroseconds, panning the camera back and a forth to make sure the coast was clear. It would seem he is in the green. No one in sight, save for a few Empties rifling through some scrap metal. The courier's attention is too focused on the task at hand to notice Ravage skulking around behind him, or Americon attached to...Primus knows who. At any rate, he punches the code, and the doors fold and slide open. As soon as the opening is large enough for him to get through, Blurr darts out onto the largely empty streets. Once he's through, the doors begin to close again, even though they hadn't opened all the way in the first place. Ravage better hurry if he wants to keep up! Opportunities come and go far too swiftly to hesitate. Ravage moves towards the door. However, rather than burst through to keep it from shutting, he catches it, holding it still just prior to closing fully to give the illusion it is indeed shut before slinking through and disappearing into the shadows once more to resume the chase... His focus is very locked on task, cataloguing the empties for later disposal while ... where /is/ Americon anyway? If he'd known the other tape was in the area hiding, he'd have had himself checked for fleas... "Primus, I feel so weak," one of the Empties says to his friends. "Every now and then, too, it's like, I'll wake up, and I'll have holes all over my body, like someone poked them into me while I was defragging and sucked my energon out." "Maybe you got Scraplets?" the friend says. "Scraplets!? Slag it all!" the Empty says. "And all the seawater's over on Earth. What am I gonna--" Then suddenly Americon pops off of the Empty's leg and transforms into robot mode, much to the Empty's alarm. Not that Americon notices. "AH! What a wonderful day... IN AMERICA!" Americon cries. As Blurr races directly towards him. "OH SHI--" Americon screams, throwing his hands before impact. But is there an impact? Combat: Patriotic Cassette strikes Blurr with his Smash attack! Combat: Patriotic Cassette (Americon) used "Smash": A Level 3 MELEE attack. Patriotic Cassette is... smashed back into cassette mode, apparently. Suddenly, a Casseticon pops out of nowhere. Literally. Wait, did he come from that Empty? Anyway, Blurr is traveling too fast to stop in time, though since Americon is so much smaller than he is, he doesn't take very much damage. Slag. He's not sure who the frag this guy is, but he's a Decepticon. Hmm...should he take this guy out to make sure he doesn't tell his superiors, or should he simply take off so fast that no one will have any idea which way he went? Eh, he looked like cannon fodder. Should be easy enough to take him out--right? If it took too long, he could always just stun him. Combat: Blurr sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Blurr strikes Patriotic Cassette with his This is Cybertron not America attack! Ravage is not about to let an opportunity get away. While Blurr is occupied with taking on the good ol' Red-White-and-Doom, Ravage, hugs the shadows and unleashes only the most noble of shot-in-the-back-attacks. He might not be able to find out where Blurr is going, but...one less Autobot means whatever was being transported dies with him... so, good riddance to that. Besides...even though it would be preferable, a casseticon can't leave a casseticon behind to suffer at the hands of the annoyingly quick... Information can always be ripped from a corpse eventually anyway. Combat: Suddenly, Ravage appears out of thin air! Combat: Sneak Attack!! Combat: Ravage strikes Blurr with his Heat-Seeking Missile attack! Combat: Ravage (Ravage) used "Heat-Seeking Missile": A Level 6 RANGED attack. Patriotic Cassette is zapped while nearly helpless and defenseless on the floor, sending him skittering across the broken ground! "That is LOW!" Americon says as he pops back up into robot mode. "Attacking a cassette while he's laying down! What kind of MONSTER are you? You've gone too far, Blurr! I, Americon, swear to defeat you single-ha--" He pauses, looks behind Blurr, sees Ravage there, firing missiles. "--multi-handedly!" And he whips out his guns and starts shooting at Blurr! Americon undergoes a patriotic transformation into his All-American robot mode! Combat: Americon strikes Blurr with his Red White and Blue Lasers attack! -2 Combat: Americon (Americon) used "Red White and Blue Lasers": A Level 2 RANGED attack. Oh, great. Now there were two of them. Blurr just doesn't have time for this! They could call for reinforcements. He ignores Americon's 'noble' words and transforms, speeding off towards his destination and hoping the Casseticons wouldn't be able to follow. Well, normally they most certainly wouldn't, but this time around breaking the sound barrier would draw too much attention, and since this is 'Con territory, they're likely to have resources that the Autobot doesn't, such as transportation in the form of a shuttle or hovercraft. In a flurry of moving parts, Blurr folds down into a pale blue-colored supersonic hovercar. Combat: Cybertronian Hovercar < Blurr> takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Ravage cycles through his ammunition, loading a simple conventional ballistic round with a complex tracking beacon concealed within the lead core. Planting himself, optical crosshairs track the fleeing Blurr. The rifle goes off with a loud *ka-KRAK* as the recoil causes him to take a step back, hissing softly. "Hate this autobot... Tonight we /end/ him." Combat: Ravage strikes Cybertronian Hovercar < Blurr> with his GAU-21/A .50HB (Pistol) attack! Combat: Ravage (Ravage) used "Pistol": A Level 1 RANGED attack. Americon tries to fire at Blurr again but by the time he's pulled the triggers the target is already gone. Americon stands there for a moment, open-mouthed. "Uh. Well. Um. So, Ravage... er... so... uh... End him! Right! Yes! In America! So how..." He listens to his radio. "Tracker! Of course! You're brilliant, Ravage!" He listens some more, make a D: face. "Um..." Americon spends several moments arguing with Ravage on the radio before he seems to give up, stamps his feet in frustration, and transforms into eagle mode, whereupon he waddles after where Blurr went. Americon's robot legs pop out metallic feather-like objects as they and his lower torso split apart, also revealing an eagle head. The arms and robot head join the main body, and his guns convert into tail feathers and rocket launchers. Americon is now a bald eagle! Ravage just laughs at the sight before engaging the rockets mounted to the back of his missile-housing and takes off running with the boosters. "Ha! Last one there gets fed to Predaking..." He follows after Blurr, working on establishing a link with the tracker fired earlier. Robotic Bald Eagle narrows his eagle eyes as Ravage takes off, then lifts off from the ground! "Haha! I tricked him!" he says too loudly, and then passes Ravage overhead. Americon, it should be noted, doesn't do "subtle" very well. Ravage glances up. "Tricked. Right. Because /you/ will be the one that rushes head-first into Blurr...not me. And guess who will find out if Blurr's armed first as a result?" "What!?" Americon says, glancing down at Ravage. "How did you spot me!? I was being very stealthy!" he complains. Reluctantly, he drops down to the ground by Ravage and transforms into robot mode. "FIIINE. Geeze, you're such a JERKCAT, Ravage." Americon undergoes a patriotic transformation into his All-American robot mode! Ravage laughs softly. "I try... I truly do. I appreciate that you notice all of my hard effort." He puts his head down as he picks up speed. "Come on... I do not want to lose him this time." AUTOBOT SPINNY Blurr feels the sting of Ravage's ammunition graze him in the side. It doesn't do much damage, but now they can track him, thus removing the need to keep up. The tracking signal would indicate the Autobot moving quickly toward the northeastern quadrant. Meanwhile, the speedster is unaware of the tracking beacon, his mind focused on reaching his destination /and/ losing the two Casseticons. Directing his sensors rear-ward, Ravage is out of optical range. He does notice Americon flying overhead--who wouldn't, what with all that shouting? He's not worried about that one, though he draws his electro-laser and attempts to knock him out of the sky just for good measure. The hovercar quickly unfolds upward and outward to reveal the fastest terrestrial Cybertronian in the galaxy, Blurr! Combat: Blurr strikes Americon with his Electro-Laser attack! Combat: Americon has been temporarily incapacitated. Americon had been trying to land gracefully, but with Blurr stunning him, his perfect landing turns into a faceplant, and Americon remains there, on his face, unmoving. Ravage is tracking! Yay for tracking... He holds back, letting Americon get ahead of him, and rightfully so. After all...why take the inevitable punch to the face when you don't have to? Instead, he monitors the tracking device, hugging the shadows to disappear once more. Combat: Ravage activates his cloaking field and vanishes from sight! Americon continues to be neglected and stunned. Blurr eventually stops when he arrives at the target location--an abandoned factory once used for refining various minerals from crude ore. The place is littered with scrap and a lot of deteriorating equipment--perfect hiding places. It made sense, it would be difficult to see what was going on inside from the outside due to a general lack of windows, and even when there were windows, they were blocked by refinery equipment. He sends off a transmission on an encrypted frequency to let his contacts know he has arrived, and that the place was clear. Or... at least appeared to be. Ravage pauses as he passes by the stunned Americon...and just shakes his head slowly before continuing on. <> He picks up speed again to catch up to Blurr. <> He glances skyward and slowly takes in the panoramic view he is afforded. <> There is a moment of pause. <> Americon eventually is able to eventually overcome the stun shot and push himself back up onto his feet. "Unf. Stupid cat! I hadn't STOPPED flying, maybe I wouldn't have been shot!" He grumbles, transforming into eagle mode. <> he yells over coms, and begins to fly through the tunnels, looking for his target. His means of attempting to detect him? Yelling. A lot. "BLURR! HEY BLURR! BLURR! BLURR! WHERE ARE YOU, BLURR?" Combat: Americon takes a moment to shake off the effects of the last attack. Americon's robot legs pop out metallic feather-like objects as they and his lower torso split apart, also revealing an eagle head. The arms and robot head join the main body, and his guns convert into tail feathers and rocket launchers. Americon is now a bald eagle! <> Blurr rescinds his previous statement about the area being clear. How the frag did they find me? he wonders, though he figures Ravage must have done something, which means the idiot who is yelling must not have come alone. He ducks behind what looks like a giant vat, which must have been used for smelting the ore from the mines. Scanning the area, he searches fervently for Ravage--it is he the courier is actually worried about. Combat: Blurr sets his defense level to Protected. Ravage frowns... the yelling. Ugh... <> He looks back down as the scene...seems to clear up. Wait, where did Blurr go? The feline begins stalking his way down to the factory proper, senses going into overdrive as he begins to scout out possible signatures of other occupants. <> Jumping and climbing, he makes his way towards the higher vantage point to get a look at the primary entrances, his optics narrowed. This went from promising to uncontained without warning thanks to a certain noisemaker... He waits, watching... almost daring someone to show their face who is not Blurr. It so happens that Americon doesn't happen upon Blurr, but rather, two neutral Cybertronians who are trying to move casually down the tunnel away from the factory. They halt when a weird robot eagle flies at them, alarmed. "HEY guys!?" Americon yells. "Seen any blue Autobots that run really fast? I'm looking for one so I can KILL his FACE." The two robots glance at each other nervously. "...nope, can't say we have?..." one says. The other nods, forcing a smile on his face. "Me neither!" "DARN!" Americon grunts. "Well, lemme know if you see anything, kay?" And he flies past them, continuing to hunt for Blurr. <> Blurr whispers into his comm. << I'll get out and blow the place, then meet you there.>> As luck would have it, the mechs Americon has run into are actually Blurr's contacts. Anybot with any sort of common sense would have been able to tell, they weren't empties. And if they weren't empties, what else would they being doing here? "Sure thing, mech!" They grin as they walk away, and might be overheard muttering about how stupid some Decepticons are... "Makes you wonder why Galvatron even keeps 'em around..." Then, there's a shrill scream down the tunnel as Americon comes roaring back down at the neutrals, firing eyebeams in every direction. "YOU SONS OF GLITCHES! You said you hadn't seen Blurr and YOU LIED TO ME! Or maybe you telled the truth but only because you hadn't seen him YET! Either way I AM VERY MAD AT YOU! CAWWW!" And cue more lasers. Ravage sees...no one. He doubles back to follow his beacon. Well, at least he can eliminate one particular menace... The cat stalks his way towards the source of the microwave beacon's signal and crouches low. <> Ravage looks the factory over, almost sizing it up for a bomb of his own...but thinks better of it, instead simply preparing his systems for another run at Blurr. <> what the slag! <> Why, oh why... he just shakes his head slowly before focusing on the task at hand. Maybe the Autobot will go assist his friends... The neutrals turn around as Americon suddenly starts screaming at them, optics wide. "Scrap, I think he heard us!" "You know you're incredibly good at stating the obvious." Lasers glance through the air, and they quickly transform down into their vehicle forms, making a break for the nearest exit. Despite their bantering, they still keep up the act. "HEY! What was that for, I thought you Decepticons were supposed to be a peacekeeping force, not a fight-starting force! I swear, we haven't seen anyone but ourselves and you around here!" Meanwhile, Blurr hears the racket and sighs. Those rebels...they had good intentions, and they were definitely passionate--but they lacked proper training. The only thing that kept them from screwing everything up was very careful and specific instructions from Autobot intel. Still, he slips out of cover, heading toward a reactor room near the center of the complex. Inside there would be a mildly functioning generator that served up auxiliary power to the abandoned plant. It must have automatically switched on when the main power had been cut, and no one bothered to turn it off. << I'm headed to the reactor room...you two will have exactly half a breem to get clear, so you'd better be on your way already.>> <> The tracking beacon is moving...in fact it's coming quite close to where Ravage is crouching. Was that a flash of blue and white? Ravage blinks... <> He pauses, listening... <> Ravage just sighs and focuses on the core. Well, slag. What is the Autobot up to now... Wait, what would Ravage do with a core? Oh, blow it up. Right. He smirks faintly and watches, starting to retool the bomb he had put in standby. Fast routes out... He surveys the area before just keeping the bomb ready and on his person, targetting systems coming online to lock onto Blurr. <> There is a moment of pause... why is his beacon moving in the wrong direction? Robotic Bald Eagle hears two things. One of them is from Ravage, telling him to let the spies go. The other thing he hears is the two neutrals proclaiming their innocence as they run. "OH! OKAY!" Americon yells at them. "I BELIEVE YOU AND WILL NOT PURSUE YOU FURTHER!" He does an exaggerated wink to reassure them. "WINK WINK!" But even as they flee, Americon chuckles slyly as he records an image of them through his optics! So, now the Decepticons will know what their altmodes' backsides look like! ...it's something? Regardless, Americon resumes the search for Blurr, eventually entering the factory. He follows the blinking icon on his HUD for several moments, eventually flying into the reactor room. <> And of course, he flies right into Blurr's path again. Combat: Robotic Bald Eagle misses Blurr with his Smash attack! Combat: Robotic Bald Eagle (Americon) used "Smash": A Level 3 MELEE attack. Except Blurr hadn't been on a path. At least not any more. He'd made to the reactor room, and had been about to arm the explosives he had brought in the case that the location had been compromised. Couldn't afford for the Decepticons to find any evidence that they'd been meeting there previously. Plus, untrained operatives could have left something important lying around. At any rate, Blurr spots the eagle flying in and ducks out of the way. This time he decides not to ignore him, though. He attempts to grab the mecha-bird. "Where's Ravage?!" he demands. "TellmeorI'lltrapyouunderapileofscrapwhilethisplacegoesupinflamessoyoubettertellme!" Combat: Blurr sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Blurr misses Robotic Bald Eagle with his Grab attack! Robotic Bald Eagle is grabbed! Briefly, it turns out, as Americon pulls his legs out of Blurr's grasp and quickly turns on him, almost like a real eagle would, and furiously pecks at Blurr's optical sensors. He returns the incomprehensible stream of words with a stream of comprehensible but still meaningless caws and screeches. Combat: Robotic Bald Eagle strikes Blurr with his O' Say Can You See attack! Combat: Robotic Bald Eagle (Americon) used "O' Say Can You See": A Level 3 MELEE attack. Combat: That attack has temporarily affected Blurr's Accuracy. (Blinded) Ravage sighs... guess he has to help out somehow... Ravage just shakes his head and follows the noise until the spies the two by the reactor room... Hmm. What to do...what to do. There is Blurr arming explosives, a bird, and...well, Blurr's explosives...and the reactor. <> Moment of truth. The feline debates...aims...aims again... Finally he just rolls his shoulders and watches as the targetting hud hits green again. <> He watches the flicker of green indicating a lock on Blurr as he lets loose another missile, immediately dismissing the warnings regarding his power reserves. Combat: Suddenly, Ravage appears out of fat air! Combat: Sneak Attack!! Combat: Ravage strikes Blurr with his Heat-Seeking Missile attack! Combat: Ravage (Ravage) used "Heat-Seeking Missile": A Level 6 RANGED attack. Combat: Ravage compares his Accuracy to 80: Success! "Agh!" Blurr is being pecked at by a mecha-bird. And on top of that, he is nailed in the back by another missile from Ravage! Well, he supposes that answers his question, rendering Americon useless. However, instead of trying to grab him and throw him off, Blurr simply transforms and blasts out of the room, smashing through the wall (and Americon into the wall if he hasn't gotten off of him). One may or may not have noticed that he'd had a small control array in his hand--a remote detonator, no doubt... Not long after he's left the room, a small display on the explosive device lights up, indicating the amount of time in astroseconds until detonation. 10...9...8...7...6...5.... In a flurry of moving parts, Blurr folds down into a pale blue-colored supersonic hovercar. Combat: Cybertronian Hovercar < Blurr> begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit. Ravage frowns. "You were supposed to hold him down!" He watches as Blurr takes off running and does much the same. "Get out of here, you fool! He's rigged the place to blow." Ravage leaves it at that, taking off in the same direction Blurr's charging out. After all...it's gotta be a clear, straight path that way as well if the annoyance is going breakneck speed. Doesn't stop him from taking a few potshots, though. Combat: Ravage begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Cybertronian Hovercar < Blurr> and Robotic Bald Eagle Robotic Bald Eagle has trouble responding to Ravage because he was just slammed into the wall, which dislodges him from the speedster and leaves him prone and groggy on the ground. "What the--" he mumbles as he stands up in robot mode. "Ravage?... Where you... go...ing?" He wanders over to the explosive device that Blurr planted, stares at it for a moment, then his mouth goes wide. It ticks down to 1. "OH SH--" Americon undergoes a patriotic transformation into his All-American robot mode! Combat: Americon damages himself. Combat: Americon falls to the ground, unconscious. ...1...0...'OH SH--' indeed. BOOOOOOOOOOM An infernal blaze blossoms out of the center of the factory, expanding to engulf the entire facility within fractions of a second. Even Blurr only barely manages to escape the blast unscathed--well, not entirely, his tailpipes are scorched slightly. But he's already taken enough damage from the Decepticons as it is, don't you think? Yeah, in fact, once the bomb goes off, he realizes he's left a trail of his own energon on the ground. ''Just...got to make it...to the tunnels... '' Transforming, he drags himself back toward the entry from whence he'd come, hoping the bomb had taken care of the Casseticons and distracted any potential patrols in the area. Ravage is going to have lots of fun digging Americon out of the rubble... What an explosion indeed... But, at least he is still functional. Though, there's more than one system yelling at him rather loudly. He systematically shuts down the alarms, taking stock of his surroundings before limping back to ground-zero to begin digging. Ugh...time to bring the broken mech back. Ravage has partially disconnected. The cat needn't go far--Americon eventually just lands right in front of Ravage in a smoking, broken heap. "I-In America," he wheezes before lapsing into unconsciousness. Combat: Ravage damages himself. Autobot Message: 3/109 Posted Author AAR: Crystal City Sun May 26 Blurr ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Text-only, from Autobot Intelligence. I was on my way to deliver some information to a resistance cell in Crystal City. We were to meet up at an abandoned factory in quadrant 16-2 of industrial sector alpha. However, I was intercepted by Ravage and another Casseticon...not sure who it was, but he yelled a lot and didn't seem to be very smart. No idea why they were teamed up, the other guy was definitely not skilled in intelligence work. Anyway, he blew Ravage's cover, and they attacked. I tried to outrun them but they tracked me to the factory somehow. The location was compromised, so I had to blow the place. I took extensive damage from the firefight with the 'Cons, but I managed to deliver the intel at an alternate location. That's about it. Blurr, signing out. End transmission.